US3219241A

US3219241A - Garment hanger

Info

Publication number: US3219241A
Application number: US263469A
Authority: US
Inventors: Newton Clarence Henry
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-03-07
Filing date: 1963-03-07
Publication date: 1965-11-23
Anticipated expiration: 1982-11-23

Description

Nov. 23, 1965 c. H. NEWTON GARMENT HANGER Filed March 7, 1965 FIG. 2.

FIG.4.

INVENTOR CLARENCE NEWTON United States Patent 3,219,241 GARMENT HANGER Clarence Henry Newton, 583 Highbury S t., London, Ontario, Canada Filed Mar. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 263,469 2 Claims. (Cl. 223-94) This invention relates to improvements in a garment hanger and appertains particularly to one that can be folded into compact form when not in use.

Foldable garment hangers known heretofore have usually had a common drawback, namely a lack of stability or rigidity when in use, as because the connections between the shoulder supporting members were liable to inadvertently fold, causing inconvenience and annoyance to the user of the garment hanger, allowing the garment to fall off the hanger.

An object of the present invention is to construct a coat hanger in which the shoulder supporting members for the garment may be rotated outwardly so that the two shoulder supporting members when extended, are in alignment and are foldable upwardly in a vertical plane passing through the shoulder members, thus transmitting to the hanger great rigidity and strength when in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger capable of being folded into compact form to occupy a minimum of space when not in use, in which condition it may be readily packed in a small carrying case such as can be accommodated in a ladys handbag.

A further object of the invention is to provide a foldable garment hanger having a hook or similar suspending member attached to the garment hanger intermediate of its width in such a manner that the hook is retained rigidly in a vertical position when the hanger is in use, and thus the outwardly extended shoulder members of the hanger are always suspended in a substantially horizontal position, the hook lying in close proximity to and between the shoulder members of the hanger when the device is in folded condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger of the nature and for the purposes described characterized by structural simplicity, good stability when in use, ease of opening and closing and being capable of manufacture at reasonable cost is thereby rendered commercially desirable.

To the accomplishment of these and related objects as shall become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as shall be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

The invention will be best understood and can be more clearly described when reference is had to the drawings forming a part of this disclosure wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of my garment hanger, showing one shoulder member opened and the other shoulder member partly unfolded with the tip being rotated from a closed position to an open position;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of my improved garment hanger in a collapsed or folded position showing the compact manner of packing whereby the garment hanger occupies a minimum of space thus permitting it to be easily stored in luggage or even in a ladys handbag; and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the collapsed or folded hanger as shown in FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawing, 6 represents my foldable garment hanger comprising two side arms 7 on which a garment or coat may be suspended.

These side arms 7 are similar and complementary and each consists of two sections 10 and 11 which are pivotally connected at their adjoining ends. Each section 10 is formed of a pair of similar members 10a and 1012 which are arranged in spaced parallelism and the end of each member remote from the section 11 is pivotally connected by the hinge pin 14 to a semi-circular connector member 8 which is located at the centre of the garment hanger when in an unfolded or in extended position.

This connector is provided on its peripheral edge with a recess or notch 12, the object of which will be made clear hereafter.

The two adjacent ends of the members 10a and 10b are pivotally hinged by the pins 14 to connector 8, and it will be noted that these adjacent ends are notched to form projecting shoulders 15 which when the members 10 are opened will abut and the upper portion of the adjacent end edges of the members 10a and 10b are formed with arcuate ends 16 simulating quadrants of a circle as illustrated in FIGURES l and 3.

The lower edges of the members 10a and 10b are, when in an open position, horizontally disposed, while the upper edges of these two members taper towards the end remote from the connector 8, and these remote ends are spaced apart by the distance piece 17 which may be connected in any suitable manner to such members, as by fusing if the garment hanger is made of plastic.

The ends of the members 10a and 10b remote from the connector 8 are each provided with registering semicircular projections or lugs 18, while the remainder of the edge of the said ends forms a plane wall 19 which lies in the same plane as the outer end of the distance piece 17. This distance piece 17 is preferably of wedge-like shape, that is, the top edge tapers downwardly towards the outer ends of the members 10a and 10b.

The member 11 which co-acts with the member 10 is a unitary member of uniform thickness which fits within the space between the two members 10a and 10b, and the member 11 is provided at one end with a semi-circular projection 20 which is pivotally connected to the semicircular projections 18 of the member 10 by means of the hinge pin 21.

It will be noted that the under edge of the member 11 and the under edges of the members 10a and 10b lie in a horizontal plane when the garment hanger is in use, and that the upper tapered edge 22 of the member 11 is in alignment with the upper tapered edge 23 of the members 10a and 10b constituting the member 10, and in this position the shoulder 19 of each member 11 abuts the outer end face of the co-acting distance piece 17.

The clothes hanger 6 is suspended by a hook or similar member 9 and in the embodiment illustrated the lower end of the hook is flattened as shown at 24 to snugly engage an outer face of one side of the connector 8 to which it is attached by a pin 26. The stem of the hook is offset adjacent the periphery of the connector 8 as shown at 25 in FIGURE 4, the offset leg fitting snugly in the peripheral notch or recess 12 in the connector thereby preventing relative pivoting of the hook in the connector. As will be seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the upper, offset end of the stern that extends upwardly and terminates in a hook 9 is offset on the side of the connector 8 opposite that side to which the flattened end is attached a greater distance than the thickness of the arms side members 10a- There is substantially no movement of the hook member 9 relatively to the connector 8 and when the coat hanger is in open position the shoulder engaging members 10 and 11 lie in a position indicated at the right hand of FIGURE 1. The flattened end 24 of the hook stern lies snugly between the junction of the members 3 a and 10b and the curved end 16 of the adjoining members 10. This is particularly illustrated in FIG- URES 1 and 3.

The members 11 are each provided adjacent one edge with a recess 28 which may be engaged by the thumbnail of the user of the hanger to rotate the members 11 outwardly around their pivot pins 21 and so bring the members 11 into extended open position in alignment with the members 10 which are swung into the open position around the pivot pins 14.

To accommodate the hanging of a pair of trousers or a skirt on the clothes hanger, hooks 29 are provided on the two members 10, and these are pivotally attached to the members 10a and 1017 by the pins 30, and the hooks are located adjacent the distance pieces 17.

When this garment hanger is to be used, and when it is in a folded position, the user of the hanger rotates the two members 10 from the vertical position shown in FIGURE 3 to a horizontal position by rotating the members 10 around the pins 14. The members 11 are now rotated from their folded position so that they will form an extension of the members 10 with the upper edges of the members 10 and 11 being in alignment.

In this position the hook member 9 is vertically disposed and the members 10 and 11 extend on opposite sides of the hook member 9 and the members 10 and 11 are in alignment and lie in a horizontal position. Since the offset portion 25 of the stem of the hook member 9 intimately engages the peripheral notch or recess 12 in the connector 8, then there is no possibility of the garment-supporting shoulder members of the garment hanger assuming any other position than is illustrated in FIG- URE 1, and at the right-hand side thereof.

The coat or jacket placed on the garment hanger will tend to pull the shoulder supporting members downwardly but this movement is resisted by the coplanar pairs of shoulders 15 of the members It abutting each other, and the members 11 in their open position abut the space members or distance pieces 17 so that there is no possibility of the garment hanger collapsing inadvertently when a garment is suspended thereon.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be manifest that a garment hanger is provided that will fulfill all the necessary requirements of such a device, but as many changes could he made in the above description and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained in the said accompanying specification and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitative or restrictive sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A garment hanger comprising a fiat connector of semi-circular configuration having a notch in its periphery, a pair of similar complementary supporting side arms each consisting of a pair of similar fiat members arranged in spaced parallel relation, with one end of each pair of such fiat members embracing and pivotally connected to the flat connector, the ends of the respective side arms adjacent the connector being provided with projections which co-act when the arms are open, a wedge shaped spacing member located between the other ends of the flat parallel side members remote from the said pivoted ends, the upper face of the wedge being inclined downwardly towards said other ends of the flat parallel members, and extension members pivoted between the ends of the spaced parallel side arm members adjacent the wedge and engaging the end of the wedge when in extended open position, said extension members overlying and engaging the upper inclined face of the wedge when the extension members are closed, the extension members in closed position being partially embraced between the flat parallel spaced side members with the upper edges of the extension members projecting beyond the spaced flat members, and a hook having an offset stern connected to the fiat connector, the offsetting leg of the stern fitting snugly in the notch in the periphery of the connector to prevent pivoting of the hook relative to the connector.

2. A garment hanger comprising a flat connector of semi-circular form having a transverse notch in its peripheral circular edge intermediate of the length thereof, a pair of similar complementary supporting side arms each consisting of a pair of similar fiat members arranged in spaced parallel relation and having one end embracing and pivotally attached to the flat connector, the said ends of the flat member being arcuate as the quadrant of a circle with projections extending therefrom which co-act when the arms are open, a wedge-shaped spacing member embraced by the ends of the spaced parallel members remote from the aforesaid pivoted ends, the wedge-shaped spacing member having an upper inclined face and being rigidly connected to the spaced parallel members of the side arms, the spaced parallel side members having projections extending beyond the wedge spacing member, flat extension members pivotally connected to the last said projections, the extension members abutting the wedge-shaped spacing members when the extension members are open, each extension member overlying and engaging the upper inclined face of the adjacent wedge spacing member when the extension member is closed, and a hook having a shank flattened at its lower end and attached to the outer face of one side of said connector and lying between the arcuate pivoted ends of the flat members of said arms, the shank having an offsetting leg intermediate of its length engaged in the notch in the peripheral edge of the flat connector member, said hook being offset on the side of the connector opposite to that to which its flattened lower end is attached a greater distance than the thickness of one of the flat members of said side arms so as to lie outside thereof when the hanger arms are in closed position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,052,426 2/ 1913 Ringler 22394 X 1,743,234 1/1930 Porter 22394 X 1,959,840 5/1934 Pierce 22396 2,558,583 6/1951 Robins 223-94 2,719,658 10/1955 Bayliss 22394 2,800,261 7/1957 Lee 22394 FOREIGN PATENTS 631,388 9/1927 France.

666,879 5/ 1929 France.

328,828 5/ 1930 Great Britain.

42,560 3/ 1926 Norway.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, ROBERT V. SLOAN, Examiners.

Claims

1. A GARMENT HANGER COMPRISING A FLAT CONNECTOR OF SEMI-CIRCULAR CONFIGURATION HAVING A NOTCH IN ITS PERIPHERY, A PAIR OF SIMILAR COMPLEMENTARY SUPPORTING SIDE ARMS EACH CONSISTING OF A PAIR OF SIMILAR FLAT MEMBERS ARRANGED IN SPACED PARALLEL RELATION, WITH ONE END OF EACH PAIR OF SUCH FLAT MEMBERS EMBRACING AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE FLAT CONNECTOR, THE ENDS OF THE RESPECTIVE SIDE ARMS ADJACENT THE CONNECTOR BEING PROVIDED WITH PROJECTIONS WHICH CO-ACT WHEN THE ARMS ARE OPEN, A WEDGE SHAPED SPACING MEMBER LOCATED BETWEEN THE OTHER ENDS OF THE FLAT PARALLEL SIDE MEMBERS REMOTE FROM THE SAID PIVOTED ENDS, THE UPPER FACE OF THE WEDGE BEING INCLINED DOWNWARDLY TOWARDS SAID OTHER ENDS OF THE FLAT PARALLEL MEMBERS, AND EXTENSION MEMBERS PIVOTED BETWEEN THE ENDS OF THE SPACED PARALLEL SIDE ARM MEMBERS ADJACENT THE WEDGE AND ENGAGING THE END OF THE WEDGE WHEN IN